Danbury's win streak ends at 2

Published 1:00 am, Saturday, April 22, 2006

TRUMBULL - Nearly every time Billy Najam has pitched this season, the Danbury High baseball offense has been no where to be found.

On Friday, the Hatters took their lack-of-support issue one step further. This time, the Danbury defense abandoned Najam as well.

The senior right-hander struck out seven and limited perennial FCIAC contender Trumbull to four hits over six innings, but suffered his third setback in four decisions as Danbury fell to Trumbull, 3-1, ending the Hatters' two-game win streak.

Najam, who went 7-1 as a junior last season, dropped to 1-3 this spring as Danbury (5-4, 4-3) committed three errors in the fourth inning, leading to three unearned runs by Trumbull (5-2, 4-2).

The 3-0 lead was more than enough for Trumbull right-hander
Kevin Vieira
, who was throwing a gem of his own and finished with a three-hitter. Like Najam, Vieira did not allow an earned run.

Danbury drew to within 3-1 of Trumbull in the sixth inning on
Taylor's
one-out RBI single to right, but Vieira retired the final five batters in order - including three pinch hitters - to pick up his first win of the season.

"That one inning killed us; it killed us bad," Taylor said of the fatal fourth. "We just have to step it up in the future and make the easy plays when we have them and not get rattled. One innocent play started it and it kind of snowballed from there. Suddenly we couldn't make a play."

With one out and runners at second and third in the fourth inning, Vieira lofted a fly ball to short center field, where Danbury center fielder
Nick Saward
had no trouble making the play for the second out. The runner at third,
J.J. Salta
, bluffed but held his ground.

As he quickly transferred the ball from his glove to his throwing hand, however, Saward dropped the ball, allowing Salta to score the first run of the game. Consecutive infield errors by third baseman
Tyler O'Rourke
and shortstop
Justin Machado
led to two more runs with two outs and Trumbull led 3-0.

"Nick Saward is an excellent outfielder; he can go get the ball and he can throw," said Danbury coach
Shaun Ratchford
.

"It was just a case of a little inexperience. Instead of being 110 feet from home plate and saying to himself 'the runner's not going anywhere, let me just catch the ball and hit the cutoff man,' he rushed a little on the transfer and dropped it. Things happen."

Even so, Najam could have easily gotten out of the inning with a 1-0 deficit as Trumbull had its No. 7 and No. 8 batters due up. But the Eagles emerged with the 3-0 lead as the left side of the infield could not close out the fourth inning.

"Usually when there's one mistake in a high school game, there's a second one waiting to happen," said Ratchford. "You just pray there's not three and four. Unfortunately in a tight game, that's going to be the difference. If we hit, it wouldn't have made such a difference."

But the Hatters didn't hit on Najam's behalf. That's been a problem all season. In the three losses Najam has suffered this season, the Danbury offense has contributed a total of just three runs.

"(Vieira) is probably the second best pitcher we've faced," said Taylor, also alluding to
Brien McMahon
's Kevin Fico, who shut Danbury out last Saturday at home.

"As soon as we hit a guy like that, everyone's confidence is going to go up. We'll get on a roll. It's only a matter of time."

Trumbull, meanwhile, is in a situation similar to Danbury's, that of rebuilding its program with young players following several years of championship runs. The difference on Friday was the Eagles made a few more plays in the field with its young team.

"This is a good win for us," said first-year Trumbull coach
Phil Pacelli
, who replaced state football/baseball coaching icon
Jerry McDougall
.

"Kevin (Vieira) had a rough outing in his first start against McMahon and we made a lot of errors behind him. Today, though, he gave us exactly what we needed and our defense played well for the most part. It was a good win against a quality team."